this is bbc news with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. president trump is due to announce guidelines on reopening the us economy. we're expecting him to speak shortly. the uk's lockdown will continue for at least three more weeks as another 861 people lose their lives to coronavirus. the worst thing that we could do right now is to ease up too soon, allow a second peak of the virus to hit the nhs and hit the british people. in brazil, grave—diggers prepare for the worst as cases there rise. the country's president is downplaying the threat. plus, the 99—year—old british veteran who's completed

a charity walk in his garden, raising more than $18 million for the uk's national health service. hello, and welcome to audiences in the uk and around the world. we're covering all the latest coronavirus developments here in britain and globally. first... any minute now, we're expecting the us president to announce guidelines on reopening the economy in some parts of the country. trump earlier called state governors to set out his plans for lifting coronavirus restrictions. it's reported to be a three—phase plan that could allow some states to lift restrictions as early as this month. this is the scene live in the white

house press this is the scene live in the white house press room this is the scene live in the white house press room there. in the last two or three days, the president has changed his mind several times. earlier in the week, he asserted he had total authority to reopen the states because he was the president. but american media say that he has told governors they would call the shots. mr trump is keen to get america back to work again. just hours ago, figures showed another 5.2 million americans lost their jobs last week. since mid—march, the us has lost more than 20 million jobs. we will just we willjust keep an eye on that press room but still no sign of donald trump yet. more more than 30,000 people have now died from the virus in america. 0ur north america editorjon sopel reports from maryland. pretty and prosperous annapolis, but it doesn't feel that way today.

this landmark on the chesapeake bay is famous for the us naval academy and crab cakes. but this seafaring town is struggling to stay afloat. chick and ruth's delly has been here for 55 years, and has the character to prove it, but for how much longer? it's got a long legacy, very, very loyal customers, and we're all very committed to coming out on the other side of this crisis. so, it's been tough? tougher than anything i've experienced in a really long time. and business down how much? about 75%. just around the corner on the main square, nothing is moving — apart from the flags in the spring breeze. situated here is the governor calvert hotel. it has 125 rooms and one guest, the consequences of coronavirus have been brutal. oh, it's been horrible. so, it's affected us tremendously. we originally had about 70 people working here, and we're now down to three people working here.

what's happening to the people who've lost their jobs? well, most of them are applying for unemployment, they're waiting for the relief checks from the federal government, they're going to foodbanks, they're helping each other out, and whatever they can do just to survive this pandemic. congress, three weeks ago, set up a $350 billion relief fund for small businesses. today, it ran out of money. the urgency to reopen is obvious, but maryland's governor counsels caution. we want to get our economy back, we want to get people back to work, but we want to do so in a safe and smart way, because the worst possible thing we could do is to take actions too quickly. today, donald trump met truckers, essential workers that have been keeping the us economy ticking over. thank god for truckers. that'll be our theme — thank god for truckers. he's going to outline tonight his plan for the states

least affected by coronavirus to start lifting restrictions in the coming days and for other regions to follow as quickly as possible. it's hard to overstate the epic magnitude of what has happened to annapolis, what has happened to america with these jobless totals. in the space of four weeks, a decade of economic growth has been obliterated. jon sopel, bbc news, annapolis, maryland. let's bring in the bbc‘s katty kay, who joins us now from washington. let's ta ke let's take you back to the white house. we told the president would speak at the top of the hour but he is some five minutes wait. a lot of the correspondence they are doing their standupsjust the correspondence they are doing their standups just before the start of this. we have got an idea of some of this. we have got an idea of some of the guidelines he will be excited to announce. he had a busy day, first having a teleconference with leaders of the g7 countries with the us heading the g7 this particular

yearfor us heading the g7 this particular year for 2020. talking about what they should do as a block. also set up they should do as a block. also set upa bipartisan they should do as a block. also set up a bipartisan task force to reopen the economy with some dreadful figures as you just heard there in terms of unemployment, up to 22 million, a rise of 5.2 million in the past week alone. let's bring in the bbc‘s katty kay, who joins us now from washington. we have spoken the last two or three nights and he has done a few u—turns in terms of what his authority is everything else but are we clear on what his position is about governors and who has the ultimate say? in a call with governors today, he did say that he was going to work in partnership with them and effectively ta ke partnership with them and effectively take their lead on when they felt they were ready to open up. but at the same time, as you mentioned, he is issuing this plan,

this 3—phase plan to get the american economy working again that has been laid out for us. the key factor of course is whether this is going to satisfy the demands of public health officials. let's take a listen. 0ur our nation is engaged in a historic battle against the invisible enemy. to win this fight, we have undertaken the greatest national mobilisation since world war ii. and thatis mobilisation since world war ii. and that is exactly what it has been. we have marshalled every instrument of american power and we have unleashed oui’ american power and we have unleashed our most potent weapon of all, the courage of the american people. these have been trying times. a coronavirus from a distant land has u nfa i rly coronavirus from a distant land has unfairly claimed thousands of precious american lives. to every citizen who has lost a cherished

loved one, your pain is our pain. we mourn as one national family. loved one, your pain is our pain. we mourn as one nationalfamily. 0ur country has come together. we draw solace from the faith that god has received and the departed, he has taken the departed into his internal and loving embrace. they will never be forgotten. 0ver and loving embrace. they will never be forgotten. over the last weeks and months, millions of americans have joined together in a shared national sacrifice to halt the spread of this horrible disease. the army built field hospitals in sports arenas and convention centres. the army corps of engineers is great. 0ver army corps of engineers is great. over 20,000 beds in record time. the navy sailed hospital ships to our biggest cities. life—saving supplies

of extreme mental medicines were rushed to the front lines as we launched a rapid search for ground—breaking treatments and vaccines. we built the most advanced and robust testing anywhere in the world. and we have done more testing than any country anywhere in the world. we suspended dangerous foreign travel, we leveraged our industrial base to produce vast quantities of critical medical gear. and enacted a historic to relief package. through it all, we have seen the heroism of our doctors and nurses like never before. these are our warriors. the bravery of our truck drivers, such bravery. and food suppliers, such incredible bravery. and the determination and drive of our citizens. through this

unified national endeavour, we have made great progress. you could really say incredible progress. 0ur experts and scientists report that our strategy to slow the spread has saved hundreds of thousands of lives. models predicted between 1.5 million and 2.2 million us deaths. if there was no mitigation, it could have even been higher than that. and between 100000 and 240,000 deaths with mitigation. it looks like we will come far under even these lowest numbers. thanks to our all out military operation and the extraordinary devotion of our people, we believe we will experience far fewer deaths than even the optimistic projection, but

there is no such thing as an optimistic projection on death. 0ne person is too many. 0ur optimistic projection on death. 0ne person is too many. our experts say the curve has flattened and the peak in new cases is behind us. nationwide, more than 850 counties or nearly 30% of our country have reported no new cases in the last seven days. because of our early and aggressive action, we have avoided the tragedy of health care rationing and deadly shortfalls that have befallen many other nations, nations which were ever possible we are helping. in america, no person who has needed a ventilator has been denied a ventilator. we are making hundreds of thousands of ventilators. we have delivered thousands and thousands of ventilators to the states. and

actually it has been an incredible operation. we started with very little and we ended with a lot. the united states has achieved a significant lower mortality rate than almost all other countries. based on the latest data, our team of experts now agree that we can begin the next front in our war, which we are calling opening up america again. and that is what we are doing. we are opening up our country. and we have to do that. america wants to be open and americans want to be open. as i have said for some time now, a national shutdown is not a sustainable long—term solution. to preserve the health of our citizens, we must also preserve the health and functioning of our economy. 0ver

preserve the health and functioning of our economy. over the long haul, you cannot do one without the other. it cannot be done. to keep vital supply chains running, these chains have to be taken care of so delicately. they are delicate. the balance is delicate. we want to deliver food and medical supply. balance is delicate. we want to deliverfood and medical supply. we must have a working economy. and we wa nt to must have a working economy. and we want to get it back very, very quickly. and that is what is going to happen. i believe it will bloom. a prolonged lockdown combined with a forced economic depression would inflict an immense and wide—ranging toll on public health. this includes a sharp rise in drug abuse, alcohol abuse, suicide, heart disease, and many other dimensions of physical and mental well—being. moreover,

many patients have put needed medical care on hold, creating an entirely new hazards for public health. 0ur entirely new hazards for public health. our country has suffered. the world has suffered. 184 other countries have suffered. therefore my administration is issuing new federal guidelines that will allow governors to take a phased and deliberate approach to reopening their individual states. i have dealt with them now a long time. and we have had a great relationship. democrat, republican, the relationship has been good. this strategy is based on hard, verifiable data. i want to thank doctor birx for her incredible leadership in crafting these guidelines in consultation with scientists, experts and medical professionals across government. doctor birx will explain the guidelines in more detail in a few

moments. and doctor fauci has been terrific. we have all work together and we have all work together well. they are interested in the health of our country and we are all interested in the viability in making us truly great again. we took the greatest economy in the history of the world and we closed it in order to win this war. and we are in the process of winning it now. our approach outlines three phases in restoring our economic life. we are not opening all at once but one careful step at a time. and some states will be able to open up sooner than others. some states are not in the kind of trouble that others are in. now that we have passed the peak in new cases, we are

starting our life again. we are starting our life again. we are starting rejuvenation of our economy again. ina starting rejuvenation of our economy again. in a safe and structured and very responsible fashion. 0ur strategy will continue to protect senior citizens and other vulnerable populations while allowing military and other groups of incredibly talented people to go about their real business and the business they are supposed to be hard at work at doing and nobody does it better. 0ur military is the greatest anywhere in the world and we are so thankful for what they have done. healthy americans will now be able to return to work as conditions on the ground allow. instead of a blanket shut down, we will pursue a focus on sheltering the highest risk

individuals. so important. for establishing clear scientific, metric and benchmarks on testing. new case growth and hospital capacity that must be met before advancing to each phase. and that is each face specifically. in the reopening of our country. this is a gradual process as the caseload in a state continues to go down, restrictions continue to be eased income. throughout the process, citizens will continue to be called upon to use all of their weapons in this war. vigorous hygiene, teleworking when possible, staying at home if you feel sick, maintaining social distance, sanitising commonly used surfaces and being highly conscious of their surroundings. those are our weapons and they are very powerful weapons indeed. governors will be empowered

to tailor an approach that meets the diverse circumstances of their own states. every state is very different. they are all beautiful and we love them all but they are very, very different. if they need to remain closed, we will allow them to remain closed, we will allow them to do that. and if they believe it is time to reopen, we will provide them the freedom and guidance to accomplish that task and very, very quickly. depending on what they want to do. we are all so encouraging states to work together to harmonize their regional efforts. we will have numerous cases where states have worked and will be working very, very closely together. as we reopen, we know that there will be continued hardships and challenges ahead. 0ur goal will be to quickly identify and address any outbreaks and put them out rapidly. if the virus returns in

the fall, as some scientists think it may, possibly, these guidelines will ensure that our country is up and running so that we can likewise put it out quickly. at the heart of our strategy is the vital role of medical research, especially for therapies it will significantly improve outcomes for high—risk patients. and reduce need for urgent care. this will be tremendously valuable in allowing life to eventually return to normal. at least 35 clinical trials are already under way, including antiviral therapies, immune therapies and blood therapies in the form of convalescent plasma. you have all heard about some of these events and some of these therapies. they have come a long way. what has been done

in the last four weeks is incredible. we will also continue to expand our testing capacity. we have now completed more than 3.5 million tests. by far the most anywhere in the world. areas of our country that have been hot spots have done much more testing on a per capita basis than south korea. we have done more than south korea. we have done more than south korea and south korea has done a good job but we have done more. we will continue to work with governors to advise them on how to conduct both surveillance and diagnostic testing. we have now distributed over 600,000 id now point of care diagnostic tests. these are tests that are done on site and within five minutes you know the answer. positive or negative. in recent days we have seen a dramatic increase in the

number of tests performed by hospitals and academic institutions with more than 120,000 tests recently reported in a single day. far more than any country in the world has ever been able to do. and our numbers are actually going out. as these new and better testing solutions come online, we are seeing this additional capacity reflected in the numbers. for this reason, the number of tests processed in commercial laboratories has dropped from approximately 100,000 to roughly 75,000 tests over the last week. the reason it dropped is because we have so many other tests and we don't even have to go to the laboratories. with the laboratories have tremendous additional capacity and states feel free to use that capacity. some of the media falsely reported this as a bad thing when in

fa ct reported this as a bad thing when in fact it is a great thing. because it indicates that the states are moving too fast or more local testing solutions, including on the spot tests. so this drop in the utilisation of commercial laboratories is an affirmation that testing, which is at an all—time high, is growing at a historic rate. in other words, the laboratories are great but now we have forms of testing that are much quicker, much better and we don't have to use the laboratories but they are there and they have a great capacity to do the work. as doctor birx has been advising our governors for weeks, we continue to have an excess testing capacity of 1 million tests continue to have an excess testing capacity of1 million tests per week available for you so our capabilities are growing every single day. especially with the new tests that are coming onto the market rapidly. as we began a

science —based reopening, we must be extra vigilant in blocking the foreign entry of the virus from abroad. border control, travel restrictions and other limitations on entry are more important than ever to keep the virus in check and allow americans to get back to work. the sacrifices our citizens have made in this current time of crisis to be remembered, studied honoured and pray for generations to come. we are and pray for generations to come. we a re really and pray for generations to come. we are really all working together. democrat, republican, conservative, liberal, we are all working together. this is not about parties, this is about our country. now the american people are ready to rise to the occasion once again. they are ready to show the world once more that americans can defeat any challenger. together we will rebuild this land that we love. we will

reclaim the magnificent destiny that we share. and we will carry our nation forward to new heights of greatness and glory. i would now like to ask vice president mike pence and doctor birx to further explain the new guidelines. i want to think doctor birx, i want to thank doctor fauci and i want to thank doctor fauci and i want to thank really especially a man who has devoted 24 hours a day to his task force and done such an incredible job, task force and done such an incrediblejob, our great vice president my mike pence. please, mike. thank you. the members of the white house coronavirus task force today joined the white house coronavirus task force todayjoined the president to meet with a bipartisan group of members of the house of representatives and the senate to get their counsel on the senate to get their counsel on the development of what the

president unveiled to america's governors this afternoon. the new guidelines for opening up america again area guidelines for opening up america again are a product of the best science and the best common sense that the president has marshalled on this team and from a broad range of advisers from all across the nation. from the moment president trump established the white house coronavirus task force early on, he made it clear that we have no higher priority than the health and safety of the american people. the president lost a whole government approach and while we stand here on this day with more than 640,000 americans having contracted the coronavirus, and our hearts go out to the families of the more than 31,000 americans who lost their lives and those are continue to struggle with the serious consequences of coronavirus, the truth is that because of the decisive action that our president

took early on suspending travel from china thereafter from portions of europe and south korea, screening passengers because of the strong actions in partnership with every governor across america, because of the extraordinary efforts of america's health care workers on the front lines and because of the cooperation of the american people and god's grace, we are slowing the spread. we are flattening the curve. we have preserved the capacity of our health care system and we have protected the most vulnerable. in a word, because of the actions of this president, this administration, governors at every level, our health ca re governors at every level, our health care workers and our fellow americans, we have saved lives. and every american should be comforted by that. and we can see it in the

numbers. in the charts that i will present today, the street maps track influenza like illness, which in this instance is mostly coronavirus across america. the first map reflects the total number of cases ona reflects the total number of cases on a week ending march the 28th. the next map reflects our data about the total number of cases in the week ending april the 4th. and we stand here today with a final map reflecting the total number of cases across america as of april the 11th. with these trends under way, president trump task the white house coronavirus task force to develop new guidelines for opening up america again. those guidelines were presented today first to our nation's governors. it is our intention at the president's direction to provide these guidelines to assist governors and state health officials in a

evaluating the most responsible manner to reopen the economies of their states in a time and manner of their states in a time and manner of their choosing. the guidelines as americans who are looking on will note began with what is the best criteria that are experts have developed. a downward trajectory encases over a 14 day period of time, ensuring states have proper capacity in the health care facilities. the second set of proposals includes a description of recommendations for state preparedness full survey let me say to the american people what president trump make clear to our governors today, that our administration will continue to work day in and day out through our task force... less move away briefly from this press conference at the white house with mike pence speaking at the moment. president trump talking with the successes but saying very

much that the us was ready to open up much that the us was ready to open up againfor much that the us was ready to open up again for business but it will be done on a sort of rolling phased way. he is talking about this as a science —based plan, knotting there to the scientists in the room around him. and it is a phased plan and states have to see a decline in cases in 14 days before they can even start to reopen most of no us states are quite there yet but that will be monitored as well. the key thing that is missing and it is important because it is what governors are calling for and it is what business leaders are calling for, there is not in this plan a call for widespread testing of the american public and widespread contact tracing of people who have come into contact with people who have tested positive. without those two things, business leaders and governors around the country and health officials don't think america can get back on its feet and that is the thing that is missing from this plan. the president is calling it science —based but i've spoken to several top scientists from former

administrations and from this administrations and from this administration as well in the last few days and they all want more testing. thank you very much indeed. you are watching bbc world news. let's pick up at that press conference, we expect to get more details about opening up america again. we are waiting to hearfrom one of the medical officers as well. doctor deborah barix, donald trump said she is due to speak soon. going back to patty k. i was struck by the introduction, talking about how trying the times have been, from a distant land and a language has changed about what was once the chinese flew. it was a sober

introduction, and he made a lot of reference to